A vibratory compactor is commonly used to pack down soil or various other materials and hence increase a load supporting capacity of materials. For example, a compactor may be used at a construction site to compact earth, including dirt and rock. Compactors typically have two cylindrical tires and one large drum that are used to crush the soil as the compactor is moved throughout the job site.
In the case of soil compactors, cleats may be supported about external surfaces of the drum to improve compaction and/or traction capabilities of the ground engaging drum of the compactor. Surfaces of the compactor drum, and other ground engaging surfaces of the compactor tires, are subject to wear that, over time, may degrade performance of the compactor. Generally, the compactors are provided with a drum shell kit which includes cleats. Structurally, the drum shell kit comprises two semi-circular parts and the cleats, or “padfoot”, are provided on ground engaging surface of the drum shell kit.
After the cleats get worn out, the drum shell kit needs to be replaced. An existing method to replace the drum shell kit requires the compactor to be taken to a workshop. A lifting mechanism, such as a crane, lifts up the compactor and the drum shell kit is replaced. A lot of tooling and equipment such as the crane, jacks etc. are required to perform the replacement. Further, the unused drum shell kits have considerable size and take up a lot of space in the workshop. Taking the compactor to the workshop from the worksite, every time when the drum shell kit needs to be replaced, causes substantial downtime and the availability of the machine is greatly reduced.
Thus, an improved design of the drum shell kit is needed so as to facilitate an easy removal and replacement of the drum shell kit on the compactor drum.